Skip to main content
Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
The release of The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune means there are now officially as many movies about making Dune as there are actual Dune movies. This documentary, now on the Arrow streaming service, was originally announced as a bonus feature on Arrow’s 2021 4K Blu-ray reissue of David Lynch’s infamous 1984 flop, a nigh-unwatchable movie based on Frank Herbert’s nigh-unfilmable classic sci-fi novel. And it follows the much-needed polishing of the Dune legacy by Denis Villeneuve, whose 2021 remake reinvigorated the world to a beloved epic (and, for what it’s worth, impressed my eyeballs but never warmed my heart). The Sleeper Must Awaken focuses wholly on Lynch’s failure-turned-cult-favorite film, from pre-production to the harsh criticism it received upon its release, and may just include some trivia about Sting’s scandalous wardrobe. Intrigued? Maybe you should be.
THE SLEEPER MUST AWAKEN: MAKING DUNE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: The first voice we hear is Herbert’s, via the film’s many archival-audio interviews. Dune, his dense, detailed, universally beloved novel, was published in 1965, and it didn’t take too long before Hollywood started sniffing around. The property was optioned in the early 1970s, Herbert worked out a screenplay that was bandied about, and it’s about here where you should pause this movie and go watch Jodorowsky’s Dune, which is one of the greatest documentaries ever made about movies that never got made. Long story short, Alejandro Jodorwsky, the lunatic (and I say that with earnest affection) who made El Topo, The Holy Mountain and Santa Sangre, once envisioned a mighty adaptation of Dune that incorporated Salvador Dali, Pink Floyd and Orson Welles, and it was so crazy and amazing and ambitious, movie producers, who almost universally don’t give a good god damn about art, weren’t interested. It was shelved, and the world did not become a better place.
Eventually, producer Dino de Laurentiis, an all-timer whose filmography includes everything from Fellini to Flash Gordon, acquired the property rights and got David Lynch, fresh off a pile of Oscar noms for The Elephant Man, to write and direct. And so began a $40 million expenditure – at the time, the largest movie budget ever – that spared not a dime on set design, costumes, special effects, a star-studded cast, etc. Minutes upon minutes of this doc chronicle the conceptualization and construction of the skintight “still suits” worn by the actors, to the point where it’s like, jeez, we’re impressed already. More time is spent on the still suits than on the sandworms, the mega-phallic giant-creature spectacle that was supposed to give the film its, erm, dramatic thrust.
The story is told with zero talking heads, only stills, movie clips and voiceover interviews with set designers, casting directors and the like, as well as Lynch fanzine editors and “Dune historians” (which I believe makes me a “Star Wars historian”). We hear Herbert and Lynch’s commentary via archival clips only, since the former is dead and the latter has essentially disowned it, calling it his “sellout” film. We all know the first ending of this story, how the studio had final cut and chopped the movie down to two incomprehensible hours, how it tanked at the box office, how it was flambéd by critics, how it became an object of ridicule. Of course, it’s considered a cult film now, because if it wasn’t, this documentary about it might not exist.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Jodorowsky’s Dune is still the best Dune film, fictional or otherwise, a crushing tragedy about a vision unfulfilled.
Performance Worth Watching: Assistant costume designer Mary E. Vogt gets this award for going on about how Sting was in such great shape, he didn’t mind wearing “a flying jock strap.”
Memorable Dialogue: A revealing quote from Herbert about the difficulties of adapting a novel to the screen: “When you’re doing a film, you’re translating into a different language. It’s as though you’re translating from English to Swahili. The visual language is a different language.”
Sex and Skin: None beyond a tossed-off comment about the need to make the sandworms look like they belong in “a movie that isn’t X-rated.”
Our Take: The Sleeper Must Awaken is about as thorough a making-of-Dune chronicle as we’ll likely ever get. And still, it’s at about the level of a DVD extra, albeit an excellent one, an 82-minute linear chug through its development, execution and reception. Those hoping to hear some retrospective commentary by Kyle MacLachlan or other principal figures will be disappointed; those fascinated by the type of foam and tubing used to make the still suits will eat it right up.
But director Daniel Griffith foregoes an opportunity to further contextualize the film within modern sensibilities. Nobody is here to give a spirited defense for its status as a cult classic, which could have been a fascinating look at how an almost universally derided film can experience a revival of interest, if not outright fandom. It’s packed with fun anecdotes – the casting director called Orson Welles asking him to play Baron Harkonnen, and the film legend hung up on her – and amusing trivia, be it obscure or well-known. Griffith’s approach doesn’t shy away from Dune’s storytelling failures, but most importantly, elevates it as a work of superior craftsmanship. If anyone deserves fawning praise, it’s the artists, designers and crew members who, under Lynch’s guidance, made the film so visually distinctive. They likely aren’t amused by the subtext, though, which illuminates how so much ingenuity, creativity and just-plain-work went into making such an enormous failure.
Our Call: STREAM IT. The Sleeper Must Awaken isn’t a must-see for your average film fan, but aficionados of Dune will look past its limitations and appreciate it for its documentation of a divisive, possibly misunderstood work.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.
